Consider the following statements about the Alvars:

1. The Alvars were the devotees of Shiva.

2. The hymns of the Alvars are compiled in Nalayira Divyaprabandhanam.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• The Alvars composed moving hymns addressed to Vishnu. They were compiled in the Nalayira Divyaprabandhanam by Nadamuni, at the end of the ninth century.

• Bhakti cult, as a religious movement, opened a new chapter in the history of Tamilnadu in the early medieval period. A strong wave of Tamil devotionalism swept the country from the sixth through the ninth centuries. The form was in hymns of the Nayanmars and the Alvars. The saints of Saivism and Vaishnavism simplified the use of Tamil language with the application of music. They brought the local and regional ethos into the mainstream. Azhwars (totally 12) and Nayanmars (totally 63), came from different strata of the Tamil society, such as artisans and cultivators. There were women saints as well, like Andal, an Alvar saint.

• The themes are mostly Krishna’s childhood. Krishna is the hero in Andal’s hymns. Her songs convey her abiding love for Krishna. Nammalvar, from Kurugur (Alvar Tirunagari), now in Thoothukudi district, is considered the greatest amongst Alvars. Nammalvar authored four works that include the Tiruvaymoli. Vaishnava devotees believe that his hymns distil the essence of the four Vedas.